The series is based on Rae Earl’s 2007 book about her teenage years in the ’80s. Set in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1996, My Mad Fat Diary follows the story of 16-year-old, 16 stone girl, Rae Earl, who has just left a psychiatric hospital, where she has spent four months.[3] She begins to reconnect with her best friend, Chloe, who is unaware of Rae’s mental health and body image problems, believing she was in France for the past four months.